Private School Hands out 105 iPads to Pupils

Scotland's Cedars School of Excellence is running a bold tech experiment at the moment, teaching all of its 105 pupils using nothing but Apple's iPad for taking notes and conducting lessons.

The school's IT man has his own blog, where he informs parents and the rest of the world about the progress of the project—including notes on the very first iPad lesson where he had to teach the kids how to cut & paste, before "we all read the Acceptable Use Policy together and in detail".

Create the Ultimate Exercise Playlist

tudies show that the rhythmic speed of your music influences your athletic performance. Here's how to use that information to create the ultimate playlist for your workout:

http://lifehacker.com/5625779/creating-the-ultimate-exercise-playlist?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

State-Funded Online School to Open in Montana

Somewhere in Montana today a rural student will fire up a computer and start learning Chinese from a teacher he or she has never met.

Today is the day that the Montana Digital Academy launches for the 500 students and 64 teachers who have signed on to meet in virtual classrooms.

Apple TV

Apple TV's streaming seems to be speedy and extremely clear, and the overall speed of the interface seems solid. The box is 720p. Apple says that they felt that using 720p allowed them to strike a balance between quality and bandwidth.

Take a look: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/01/apple-tv-2010-hands-on/

Motorola Defy: Android 2.1 goes rugged with water, dust and scratch resistance

Remeber the Motorola i1? Moto has just added its second rugged(ish) Android handset in the 3.7-inch Gorilla Glass-fronted Defy. It's dust-, scratch-, impact-, and water-resistant. Matching up to the IP67 durability spec means it's expected to resist being submersed in up to a meter of water for up to half an hour -- making it a pretty awesome option for taking your Android to the beach, 854 x 480 is your screen resolution, backed up by an OMAP 3610 chip running at 800MHz (there had to be some tradeoffs, right?). Android 2.1 is another slight disappointment, we're not clear on why Froyo had to be left off the table, but at least Motorola has bundled Swype as the default input mechanism. Should be a boon for some, we suppose. The Defy is expected to launch across Europe in Q4 2010.

Take a look: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/01/motorola-defy-android-2-1-goes-rugged-with-water-dust-and-scra/

Nike Shoes Get Outfitted with Wii Balance Controls

Nike recently challenged 78 artists to remix and adapt the function of Nike shoes. Nick Marsh, one of the contestants, took a pair of Air Maxes and imported the internals of a Wii Balance Board to turn his shoes into controllers.

He placed the Balance Board sensors in the soles of the shoes and re-jiggered some wires to turn Air Maxes into a working Balance Board. According to Nick, the shoes work like this:

The user simply puts on the shoes, turns on the balance board/shoes (nike-wiis) and then plays as normal, except it's not a normal way to play. As you are now physically attached the to the board, the actions have changed, you can no longer simply step off, so you must lift your foot and stand on one leg or sit down when no pressure is required, making for an altogether interestingly different experience.

In action, having shoes as a controller is actually sorta intense:

Take a look: http://gizmodo.com/5624861/nike-shoes-get-outfitted-with-wii-balance-board-controls

New IPod Touch

A new Apple iPod Touch in three sizes starting at $229 - this is the best answer for teachers looking for a non-phone device that carries their music, videos, takes pictures, takes movies, and yes ---- all of our software works on it.

The new Apple iPod Touches will be available next week ----- or for pre-order today (got to go order mine now!).